Chase IHG Premier Credit Card: 5 40k Free Night Certificates + 10k Points or 170k + $100 Dining Reimbursement

A welcome offer with five 40k free night certificates is back, and adding an authorized user gets you an extra 10k points. It feels like this can go head-to-head with the 170k+$100 IHG dining reimbursement offer below.

• IHG 5FN+10k welcome offer link

This offer is excellent, and I have added it to our ranking as well!

• Best Credit Card Welcome Offers in the U.S. (Personal Cards) [Updated Monthly]

There is now a new in-app offer that provides 160,000+10,000 points for adding an authorized user+5*$20 IHG dining credits. You can log in to your IHG app (your address must be in the U.S.) to see it. Alternatively, you can use the following steps to access it:

• Log in to your IHG account in a browser (https://www.ihg.com/)
• Then visit directly: this link

This $100 credit is a bit annoying: it consists of five $20 reimbursements for dining-related purchases, and the charges must be charged to your room. Also, if you do not use the full $20 in one transaction, the remaining value is forfeited.

You, as the primary cardmember will receive five Food & Beverage Reward vouchers of up to $20 each, to be redeemed for credit against eligible food and beverage charges on your room bill at participating IHG Hotels & Resorts. Each voucher can only be used once, even if your applicable charges total less than $20. If the full $20 value is not used, the remaining value will be forfeited.

Chase IHG Premier Credit Card Overview

Benefits

• 1 free night certificate every year, worth keeping long term: This card gives you one annual free night at eligible IHG properties, redeemable only at hotels costing 40,000 points or less (list of IHG hotels that cannot be booked). Although this restriction was added, it is still fairly easy to get more than the $99 annual fee in value, as hotels costing 40,000 points often have cash rates of $150+. The annual free night certificate can now be used for rooms costing more than 40,000 points, as long as you top it off with the required points.
• 4th night free on award stays: Once you hold this credit card, you can get the 4th night free when redeeming IHG points for four consecutive nights. In other words, a four-night stay only requires 75% of the points.
• 20% discount on buying points: When purchasing IHG points on IHG’s official website, you can get a 20% discount. This 20% discount cannot be stacked with IHG point purchase promotions (often 80%). In addition, buying points through C+P bookings can also keep the cost around 0.6c per point. So this 20% off is completely meaningless. Point purchase promotion roundup
• Complimentary IHG Platinum status: Enjoy IHG hotel benefits such as earning bonus points on stays and room upgrades. Spending $40,000 earns Diamond status. You can also get an additional Fuel Rewards discount on gas.
• $50 UA Travel Bank credit: You receive a $50 Travel Bank credit each year: $25 from January to June and $25 from July to December. The credit expires after 6 months. You need to link your UA and IHG accounts, and the $25 will be issued automatically (link). This credit can be used automatically when booking tickets on UA’s official website, but it will expire if not used within half a year.
• Big-spend bonus: Spend 20,000 and earn an extra 10,000 points and $100 cash back.
• Global Entry/TSA Pre reimbursement for the $100 application fee
• Cell phone insurance: According to an email, the benefits on this card have been changed somewhat. Price Protection and Master Concierge were removed, while a more useful Cell Phone Protection benefit was added. It provides $800 in coverage for cell phone loss and damage (the older version of the IHG card had $600), as long as you pay your monthly cell phone bill with this card. This new benefit is also a reason the card can be worth keeping long term.

Drawbacks

• IHG points are worth only 0.6c each, so this card is not a good choice for everyday spending, unless you are staying at IHG hotels.

Introduction to IHG Points

• Point value: The average value is about 0.6 c/p, so 100 IHG = $0.6 (Points Value and Analysis). In other words, a hotel night worth $60 would generally require about 10k IHG points.
• How to redeem: You can search and book directly on the IHG.com website. Hotels are divided into 11 award tiers, with redemption rates ranging from 10k to 70k points. Cash + Points redemptions are also available. If you have the IHG Premier credit card, when redeeming points for three consecutive nights, you can get the fourth night free. That means four nights cost only 75% of the points normally required.
• IHG Points Break: Points Break is a member promotion unique to IHG. Each quarter, around 100 hotels are selected from IHG’s 5000 properties worldwide and offered at redemption rates of 5000, 10000, or 15000 points per night. Based on the common valuation of IHG points at 0.6 cents per point, that means you can redeem a free night at these hotels for the equivalent of just $30/$60/$90. Sometimes this is far below the normal cash rate, so popular properties are often snapped up as soon as bookings open. See also: Introduction and Analysis of IHG Points Break
• Point expiration: If there is no activity in your IHG account for 12 months, your points will expire. If you hold a co-branded credit card or have IHG Gold status or higher, your points will not expire.
• My take: If you want to get strong value from IHG points, they are often best used for hotels near major attractions or during special high-demand periods, such as New Year’s Eve in Times Square, New York. IHG’s strength is its broad footprint and large number of properties across the U.S., so it is usually easy to put your points to use. Points Break awards can be as low as 5k points per night, which can be an excellent deal if you can take advantage of them.
• Related credit cards: Chase IHG Premier , Chase IHG Rewards Club (older version)
• Detailed analysis: Introduction to IHG Points and Elite Status

My Take

I believe the main reason many people keep the old IHG card in the sock drawer is that paying a $49 annual fee for a free night certificate usable at any IHG hotel worldwide was simply an amazing deal. For example, IHG hotels in Times Square often sell for $1,500+ on New Year’s Eve, and one free night certificate could cover it. That was incredibly valuable. The new version added restrictions to the free night certificate, limiting redemptions to award rooms under 40,000 points, which is a fairly significant devaluation. However, it is still relatively easy to get enough value to offset the $99 annual fee.

The previous 10% points rebate was changed to the 4th night free benefit (equivalent to a 25% discount), which is a very good discount for people who stay longer. Of course, it is not as flexible as getting 10% of points back directly. From a cost perspective, these two discounts should be about the same for IHG. Earning 10x points on IHG purchases may also make many people switch from using a general travel credit card to using the IHG credit card for IHG stays, since 10x points is equivalent to about 5% back. Global Entry reimbursement has become extremely common by now; I suspect almost everyone already has it.

In addition, the extra 20% discount on buying points looks somewhat interesting. IHG frequently sells points with a 100% bonus, meaning the purchase cost is 0.5 cents per point. If that could be combined with this 20% discount, the cost would be only 0.4 cents per point. If the purchased points were then used for a four-night stay with the 4th night free benefit, the hotel cost would be even lower. If that really worked, quite a few people would probably be willing to buy points or even stockpile some IHG points for stays.

[Update 2022.9] According to US Credit Card Guide, some users have received targeted IHG mail offers that include a unique Invitation Code. Based on the terms in the letter, you only need to not have received a welcome offer on the IHG Premier card within the past 24 months; it does not mention the old IHG card. With the regular application links, cardholders of the old card cannot be approved (after 2022.3, it became impossible to apply for the new card while holding the old one). There are already data points showing that this restriction can indeed be bypassed, allowing people who hold the old card to apply for and get the new card.

For Those Holding the Old IHG Card

[Update 2022.1 #2] According to M2M, the Chase IHG co-branded card family will soon introduce a one-card-per-brand-family rule. In other words, if you hold one of the co-branded cards, you will not be able to apply for the others. This rule officially took effect in March 2022.

[Expired] Fresh DP: readers Jerry and Lizi (Jan. 2020 DP) had already held the old IHG credit card for one year and were also at 9/24 (9 new cards in the past 24 months). Today they applied for this new IHG Premier card and were instantly approved. It seems Chase was still pretty generous: the new card was treated as a new product, and the 5/24 restriction was not added (it probably is now). Personally, I think that although the Free Night benefit has become more limited, it still has no problem justifying the annual fee. And having the Free Night benefits from both IHG cards together is definitely more useful. There is also a potentially huge loophole redemption: use the old card’s 10% redemption rebate together with the new card’s fourth-night-free-on-points benefit, which can create a discount of more than 30% on award redemptions. On top of that, combining it with a 20% discount when buying points on sale can lower hotel costs even further.

Free Night: If you hold both the old card and this new card at the same time, you will receive two Free Night certificates.

Fourth-night-free stacking: If you book four consecutive nights with points, the points required for the fourth night will automatically be deducted at checkout. In addition, if you hold the old IHG card, 10% will be returned to you about a month after the points are used. My understanding is that both of these benefits are tied to your account, so it does not matter which credit card you ultimately use for check-in or payment. If you have both cards, then on every 4-night booking, 13,500 points can get you 20,000 points of value (assuming 5,000 points per night, four nights only require 15,000 points, and after the 10% rebate the final cost is only 13,500). That means the points value is effectively boosted by 48%. If you have a large IHG points balance, holding both the old and new IHG cards is a very good choice. And if the hotel you need also happens to be available as a Points Break deal, the value would be almost unimaginable.

Application

• The minimum approved credit line on this card is $2,000.
• Since this is a co-branded card with IHG hotels, if you already have an IHG membership number, you can enter it on the application (otherwise one will be assigned automatically).
• If you already hold the old version of the IHG credit card, you may not be able to apply for this new card; some mail offers with a code can bypass this restriction.

• Chase application status check link (login required). Or call: 888-338-2586
• The 5/24 rule: if you have opened more than 5 new cards in the past 2 years (including cards from other banks), you will not be approved for a new Chase card
• You can be approved for at most two Chase credit cards within any 30-day period
• If you have received the welcome bonus on this card within the past 24 months (48 months for the Sapphire family), your application will be automatically denied
• You can call the reconsideration line (800-453-9719) to expedite credit card approval or request another review of a denied application.
• Having a Chase Checking account can help with getting approved for a credit card
• More information on applying for Chase credit cards

Application Link